Runa's Knife
August 2022
Having been asked to create an every day carry utility blade for events (and for possible shanking)
Historical exemplar
British Museum - Possible Viking Knife - 9th - 10th CE
Museum Number: 1921,1101.167
More than anything, this was used as blade shape, a flat edge, and a slight drop point, about the size of a paring knife. I would assume this as being more of a utility, every day knife rather than a tool of battle.
Build Process
Rough Forging
Having decided a shape i wanted to end up with, based upon the extent, I went about shaping the flat stock into an acceptable shape.
1) the flat stock is reduced in width and drawn out longer
2) a preform is started
3) blade preform is removed from the rest of the stock
Tang Shaping
In all pictures shown, the edge of the blade is facing left. This is important to keep in mind. As bevels are forged in, the tip will rise up forming the drop point I'm searching for.
1) The bottom 1/2" of steel is thinned and drawn out to form a tang
2) Action shot of metal in fire
3) Refinement of shape and cleaning up of hammer marks
Rough Grind
Forging ends with a blade shape. Once an acceptable shape has been forged, grinding and filing will bring the blade to final shape.
1) The bevels have been hammered in, thinning the edge, rising the tip, and creating a slight belly to the edge
2) Belt grinder (first power tool used) to remove forge scale and clean up lines.
3) File work to continue cleaning up profile
What makes a knife...
Having forced and cleaned a bit of metal into shape resembling a knife, it was time to harden the steel.
1) The blade was heated to beyond it's critical point, where the molecules are in flux and new crystalline structures can be formed in the metal. Confirming the critical point with a magnet, the hot blade was quickly cooled in a vegetable oil quench. Allowed to cool, then checked for hardness.
2) A hard knife is wonderful, but hard metal shatters easily, the blade had to be tempered, and the brittle hardness reduced. Not having access to a tempering oven, I opted for a mapp torch and slowly introduced heat to the knife to temper the blade.
Polishing makes pretty
After hardening and tempering, Files and sandpaper were used to hand polish. Starting with files, then moving to 60 grit sandpaper, moving up to 1 micron polishing paper.
Final Fit up and Handling
Brass was cut and filed to fit around the tang to cap both ends of the handle.
Norwegian Elm was predrilled and then burned onto the tang to ensure a perfect fit.
With all handle pieces in place, the remaining tang was peened over the brass on the butt of the handle. This riveted tang will lock the handle together without the need of glue or other adhesives.
The handle held together, it was taken to the belt sander to be rough shaped.
Cleaned and polished
The handle was further hand sanded, then treated with boiled linseed oil, and beeswax to seal and polish.
Makers Mark and Runa's name were etched into the blade using a vinyl resist, and Ferric Chloride etchant.
Final Product
Lessons Learned
My hammer control needs work, I spent much of the final clean up removing errant hammer marks.
In future knives, I would like to forge better bevels, cleaner tang, and take more time with final fit-up. There are items which I'm not thrilled with how they fit together
The sheath design needs a rework. This one was thrown together on the spot after realizing I had a finished blade and no way to protect it.